Making Proteins (Protein Synthesis) Study Material

Making Proteins (Protein Synthesis) | Study Material

Chromosomes are made up of long strands of tightly wound DNA molecules held together with proteins.

A section of the DNA molecule that controls the development of certain characteristics is called a gene.

Proteins are made up of chains of amino acids. The type and sequence of the amino acids determine the type of protein. The DNA controls the production of different proteins, which is called protein synthesis. The code for creating proteins comes from genes, which are small sections of the DNA. Each gene acts as a code or a set of instructions for making a specific protein.

Proteins are made in structures called ribosomes, which are found in the cytoplasm of the cell. Therefore, the information required to make the protein needs to be transferred from the DNA in the nucleus to the cytoplasm. This is done by a molecule called ribonucleic acid (RNA).

The RNA strand has a similar structure to DNA i.e. a base bonded to a sugar-phosphate backbone. However, unlike DNA, RNA is single stranded. The sugar in the RNA molecule is called a ribose instead of deoxyribose in DNA (ribose contains an additional hydroxyl group). It contains the base uracil instead of thymine which forms a base pair with adenine.